The Fight for Safer Streets
Walla Walla's decaying wooden sidewalks are proving hazardous, prompting a push for modern cement alternatives.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The abominable condition of the wooden sidewalks in the residence portions of the city of Walla Walla causes complaint all over the city. There are holes in which a leg may be broken every block. Nails stick up against which feet are hurt and trousers and dresses torn to tatters everywhere. This condition demands a remedy. Recently, it was reported that a contractor had taken the job for building the concrete-cement walks around one of the public school buildings at eight cents per square foot. This would be 72 cents per square yard. The city sidewalks in the residence districts are six feet wide. Two square yards of width would make three running feet of sidewalk. As a matter of fact, considering the great number of feet to be constructed, the contractor could afford to build the sidewalk cheaper. But even at 48 cents a running foot, the cement walk is vastly cheaper than a wooden walk, which costs on the average about 25 cents per running foot. A cement-concrete walk, properly constructed and laid below the frost line, would be practically indestructible, while the average life of a wooden walk is not more than seven or eight years. The city has jurisdiction over sidewalks and can prescribe the limits within which cement walks must be constructed if it chooses to do so.
“There are holes in which a leg may be broken every block. Nails stick up against which feet are hurt and trousers and dresses torn to tatters everywhere.”
Municipal infrastructure debates over durability, cost, and safety remain evergreen. Just as 1903 residents argued over transitioning from splintered wood to permanent concrete, modern cities are constantly debating the fiscal responsibility of long-term civic upgrades versus cheap, temporary fixes.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.